


Path of the Sword

by lightningrani



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Character of Color, Gen, Indian Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-05
Updated: 2015-10-05
Packaged: 2018-04-24 21:58:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4936852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightningrani/pseuds/lightningrani
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Connie's mother seemed pretty accepting of Connie's new hobby... until she wasn't. An alternate take on what could have happened after Nightmare Hospital.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired based off a personal experience, and reading the first chapter, it may not make a bunch of sense why Priyanka Maheswaran acts the way she does. The second chapter should clear up any confusion.

“What do you mean, Connie isn’t here?” Steven asked balefully. “It’s time for sword lessons! Didn’t Lion bring her? I even gave him one of those lion things which he likes!”

Pearl shook her head. “I’m sorry Steven, but Lion came back alone. Though he did look a bit frazzled….”

“Garnet, Garnet, is Connie coming this way?”

Garnet paused before pushing her glasses back onto her face. “No. But the phone should ring in a few seconds.”

As soon as the phone started to ring, Steven ran over and grabbed it. “Connie?”

“Hi Steven,” she said, sounding sad. “I’m sorry I couldn’t come over, but Mother doesn’t want me to do sword lessons anymore. She says it’s too dangerous. I’m sorry I had to send Lion back; I tried to give him a note but he shredded it with his teeth.”

“He must have thought it was a Lion Licker,” Steven mumbled to himself. “But Connie, you love learning how to fight! Why doesn’t your mom understand?”

“She does understand, Steven. Well, kind of. She said she’ll sign me up for fencing lessons when I’m a bit older. Speaking of Mother, she wants to talk to one of your moms.”

“Uh…” Steven looked around, and frantically handed the phone to Pearl. Pearl looked at him with confusion.

“Act normal,” he hissed. Pearl carefully held the phone next to her ear.

“Oh, hello, Dr. Maheswaran. I’m Pearl, one of Steven’s… mothers? Yes, well, our relationship is slightly complicated. I understand that you have a few questions to ask?”

**

“I’m really sad your mom isn’t letting you practice swordfighting, Connie. I thought Pearl did a good job of convincing her,” Steven said, as they walked across the beach. Lion lagged behind them, his interest caught by a shell.

“I think Mother might have been swayed, if Pearl didn’t start waxing poetically about risking my life to save the world from evil gems.”

“Yeah, that might have been a mistake.” Steven kicked a shell into the ocean. “I just don’t understand why she would do something like it! It seemed that after the thing at the hospital, she understood you better!”

Connie shrugged. “I thought so too. I mean, for the first few days it seemed like it wasn’t a problem. It was just when Lion appeared that she seemed to freak out.” Connie paused. “Actually, it was kind of weird. Mother has been at home since the incident at the hospital, and when she saw me on Lion’s back, holding your mom’s sword, well, she seemed to have doubts.”

Steven hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe she thought you would hurt yourself when riding on Lion?”

“Steven, she didn’t say I could come for lessons as long as I didn’t ride on Lion. She said I couldn’t come at all, ever.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

They walked along the coast in silence for a few seconds. “Oh, I know! What if I asked my dad to talk to her? Maybe he could change her mind?”

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt,” Connie said dubiously.

“Okay! Let’s go ask him now!” Steven yelled, and yanked Connie towards the car wash.

“Steven! Slow down!”

**

Greg Universe walked back through the door, looking thoughtful. Connie and Steven were playing one of Steven’s favorite board games on the ground. Steven looked up and rushed his dad.

“So can Connie come for lessons again? Can she? Can she?”

“No, Dr. Maheswaran didn’t budge on that. I don’t think I can convince her, Steven. I’m sorry.”

“But, Dad, she has to see how sad this is making Connie!”

“She said something about thinking about Connie’s future, and something about it not being respectable.” Greg scratched his head. “I’m not really sure what she meant by that. Sword-fighting isn’t necessarily something all children learn, but it’s not bad…”

Connie groaned and covered her head with her hands. “Not this again.”

“Connie? Do you know what’s happening?”

“Sadly, yes.” She nodded politely in Greg’s direction. “Thank you, Mr. Universe, for talking to my mother. I think I can handle this from here.”

“Connie? What’s happening?”

Instead of answering, Connie moved her piece two places forward on the board. “Your turn, Steven.”

“Aw, why did you do that? I had a perfect game going on!” Steven responded, momentarily forgetting about his question. Connie gave him a big smile, and they continued on playing for the rest of the night.

**

Steven found Connie angrily throwing rocks into the ocean. “What’s wrong, Connie?”

Connie huffed. “Mother isn’t listening to me. Like always.”

“Oh. But I thought you knew what the problem was.”

“I do, Steven. It’s just a very hard problem to solve. Wait!” Connie rummaged through her bag, and pulled out a book. “I have something to show you!”

“Oooh. Is this like _The Spirit Morph Saga?_ ”

“Not really. These are some of the tales which I grew up with as a kid. I thought you would like to read it.”

“Are they interesting stories?” Steven asked, while peering over Connie’s shoulder to look at the book. “It should be, if there are blue people on it.”

Connie smiled. “I liked them, at least.  My favorite one’s about this cool lady named Durga.”

“Ooh, what does she do? Is she like Lisa, fighting evil with her faithful falcon?”

“Kind of,” Connie said with a small laugh. “She does fight evil, and she does have an animal friend. But it’s a tiger. She rides it like we ride Lion, sometimes.”

Steven sat down next to Connie. “Wow, that’s really cool! What did she do?”

“It started with this evil demon,” Connie explained. “He was a bad guy, but he was able to convince the gods to give him a boon—a wish,” she clarified, seeing Steven’s confusion. “He asked the god to make it impossible for any man to kill him, which the god did.”

“The demon then went around wreaking havoc, but all the heroes of the world could do nothing, because they were men.”

“Wait, why were there no female heroes?” Steven asked, confused.

Connie wrinkled her nose. “It’s because this story takes place in a world where people thought women were weak.”

“Ew.”

“I know. But in the world’s darkest hour, Durga appeared, riding her tiger, weapon in hand. When the demon saw her, he laughed, because even though she was a formidable foe, she was still a woman, and what could a woman do to him? Durga proved him wrong, and utterly destroyed him, saving the world.”

With that, Connie handed Steven the book. “You should read it yourself. There’s a lot of cool tales in this book. You’ll enjoy it.” Steven accepted the book with awe in his eyes. “I can’t wait to start reading it!” he said with a big smile. “Hey, I should put this in my room so it won’t get wet. Let’s see if Amethyst is making anything interesting in the kitchen!”

**

“Hey, Pearl, did you know that there’s this one story about a kid who lifted a mountain with his pinky?” Steven was lying on the couch, stomach-down, reading through the book which Connie had lent him.

Pearl frowned. “Why, that sounds a lot like this one tale I heard in the past. Say, Steven, is that child named Krishna?”

“Yup! He’s kind of funny.”

“I’m not sure if all of those stories are appropriate for you, Steven.” Pearl came over and looked down at the book. “Where did you get this?”

“Oh, Connie lent it to me. She said she grew up with them. They can’t be that bad, right?”

“Well, if Connie grew up with them, it should be fine. May I look at it?” Pearl flipped back a few pages and frowned. “Well, at least this book is being faithful to the original story, at least. What have you thought of these stories, Steven?”

“I like the one about Durga!” Steven grabbed the book back and found the appropriate page. On it was Durga and her tiger, standing on the dead body of the demon, blood dripping from her sword. “She’s really cool.”

Pearl blinked. “Aside from the picture, the moral of the story is a very positive one at least.”

“Pearl, is Durga a fusion?”

“No. Why would you think that, Steven? Oh, it’s the arms, isn’t it?” Pearl shook her head. “Oftentimes, the gods in Hinduism are drawn with multiple arms so they are holding objects which represent their characters. In this picture, the multiple arms are holding the weapons given to her as a gift.”

“Oh.” Steven casually kicked the sofa with his feet. “So, anyone could be Durga?”

“Well, the average person could dress up as her, yes. There are ways for humans to create the illusion of multiple arms if needed.”

“Soooo, Connie could dress up as Durga?”

Pearl blinked. “Well, I guess so, though I’m not sure if it’s appropriate out of religious contexts…”

Steven jumped up, leaving the book on the couch, and gave Pearl a big smile. “Thanks, Pearl! I’m going to call Connie now,” he said, before running off towards the phone, ignoring Pearl’s protests.

Connie picked up after the first few rings. “Hello, this is the Maheswaran household.”

“Connie! I have a great idea!”

“Oh, hi Steven! What’s this great idea?”

“We should hold a play where you’re Durga and show it to your mom! Then she’ll understand how much sword-fighting means to you, and then you can come for lessons again!”

Connie was quiet for a few seconds. “Steven, it’s a wonderful idea, but I’m not sure if this will help.”

Steven bit his lip. “Well, I mean, even if it doesn’t help, it would be fun, right? We get to dress up and make props and everything. And I’ll be your co-actor, so you won’t be alone!”

It was silent on Connie’s side for a few seconds. “Okay, Steven, let’s do it,” she said finally, confidence increasing with each word. “I get to design my costume, though.”

“Great! Make sure you can ride Lion in whatever you’re wearing, though.”

“That I can definitely do.”

**

 

The play had been going well. Connie’s mother and father sat in the front row, facing their makeshift stage with curtains made out of sheets, and based off Steven’s infrequent peeking from behind the makeshift curtains, they seem to be enjoying their performance so far. Pearl had also been doing a great job narrating, and Steven knew she was enjoying every second of it.

However, the true test was about the happen: seeing the reaction Connie’s parents had to Connie’s sword-fighting demonstration.

Connie gripped her sword—a real one, not one made of plastic—in her hands, nervously. She was wearing a salwaar kameez, and had tied her dupatta across her body. “Steven, I really hope this works.”

“It definitely will!” Steven said as he sat on the ground, playing with the sheet which hid them from view. The devil horns which were a part of his costume lay next to him.

“What if they try to stop the fight? What if they leave in the middle?”

“Don’t worry, Connie! My dad will make sure they stay.”

Connie took a deep breath. “Okay. You should get ready too, Steven.” Carefully she sat on top of Lion, who had almost destroyed the Lion Sticker he was currently playing with. She grabbed her plastic sword—the sword which she had been using for most of the play—and put it in the holder hanging from Lion’s side. Steven moved to the side so he could get a better look of Connie’s performance before he had to enter.

“Prepared with the weapons given to her by the gods,” Pearl narrated outside, “Durga approached the demon, ready to fight him to the death. But before she could fight him, she must first past his minion.”

Connie nudged Lion with her feet, and they went out to the front of the stage. “Die, filthy beast!” she yelled as she jumped off Lion.

A Pearl hologram, who was also wearing devil horns, courtesy of Steven, walked out to meet her. “DO YOU WISH TO ENGAGE IN COMBAT?” it asked.

“I will fight you to the death!” Connie yelled, and, with her real sword, started the battle. Sword clashed against sword, the sound echoing through the room whenever it happened. Whenever the hologram stabbed at Connie, she avoided it with expertise or parried it away without a problem. The Pearl hologram put up a good fight—though not too hard of a fight, as no one wanted Connie to get hurt in this demonstration—before Connie stabbed it through the heart, causing it to disappear from existence.

Someone gasped. Steven looked towards the Maheswarans, and sure enough, both parents seemed to be shocked at this display. None of them were rushing to the stage to take Connie away, though.

“With the minion defeated,” Pearl continued, “Durga had only the true enemy left to defeat. However, it was not much of a fight, because of the demon’s misguided beliefs.”

Hearing his cue, Steven sauntered towards Connie. “You may have defeated my minion, but can you defeat ME?” he asked. “No, you can’t! Because you’re a—”

Connie threw her plastic sword at Steven, who fell dramatically to the ground as it hit him.

“With that, Durga had slain the demon, and peace returned to the world. The end.”

Connie’s parent clapped politely as they bowed, though based off their expressions, they were slightly confused by the ending. When they were done, they approached Connie and Steven, who were waiting anxiously for their reaction. Lion, who had nothing else to distract him, wandered away like any cat would.

“Connie, where did you learn how to use a sword like that?” asked her dad. “You did a really good job fighting off that... You know, I’m not really sure what that was.”

“Thank you, Father. I practiced a lot.”

“I noticed you used a different sword for that fight, Connie,” her mother said nonchalantly. “Was there any particular reason for that?”

Steven wringed his hands behind his back as Connie answered. “It was a specific theater sword, Mother. The plastic one doesn’t really lend itself to realistic fight sequences.”

“Of course.” She paused, as if she was thinking about what to say next. “It seemed that you enjoyed that a lot. How would you be interested in taking sword-fighting lessons?”

“Really?!” Connie said excitedly, before taking a deep breath and calming down. “I mean, of course I would be interested, Mother. Thank you for the offer.”

“Good. Now, excuse me, I need to talk to Steven’s… mothers for a second.”

After Connie’s parents walked in the direction of the Crystal Gems, Steven started to jump up and down excitedly. “It worked! It worked! You can take lessons again!”

“I can’t believe that did it, out of all things. Thank you so much, Steven. You helped a lot.”

Steven smiled back. “Well, I mean, I know you could convince your mother without my help. But we did it! We need to celebrate.” Steven ran to the kitchen, and came back a few minutes later with two cupcakes, a sword drawn on top of both of them with icing. “A celebratory cupcake!”

“To best friends,” Connie said, as they tapped their cupcakes together.

“To best friends forever!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What was going on through Dr. Maheswaran's head during this story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta means child/son in Hindi, and often is used as a term of endearment.

 

Priyanka remembered growing up as a child under her mother’s watchful eye. “Beta,” she said one day, when Priyanka was especially rebellious, “I know it is hard it is, right now, to understand what I am doing. But one day, you will understand, that this was all for your own good.”

And her mother was right, though it took her many years to get to that point.

So it was no surprise to her that her own daughter would be so stubborn. Connie was always willing to fight for what she believed, and for whatever reason, sword-fighting was now one of those things.

It was a surprise, to learn how much her daughter had hidden from her. While Connie always had a few secrets which her parents never knew about, she would never hide something as magic and evil gems. Then again, Priyanka always had more friends than Connie did, and if she had thought her parents would cut her off from her friends, she may have acted the same way.

She had her doubts from the beginning, true. Connie was getting her exercise through her daily tennis lessons, but sword-fighting was a unique skill which would make her stand out in the future. And Doug seemed to have less doubts about the whole scenario than her.

But when she saw her daughter, on that lion, with that sword held so expertly in her hand, she couldn’t help but feel afraid.

Connie was a proper, respectful daughter. That was how Priyanka had raised her. She knew how to be polite, and she knew how to respect her elders.

But sword-fighting… that was the first thing on the path away from being respectful. A girl on the back of a lion, her hair loose and free to the wind, a weapon in her hand—all of that raised fears which were hard to place, but fears which she felt were right, defying the beliefs that she was raised with.

So she told her daughter no. What she didn’t expect was the lengths that her friend, Steven, would go to help Connie. After all, she doubted that Greg Universe, of all people, would come over to talk about her decision without Steven’s intervention. That boy was a dedicated, loyal friend.

Nothing changed her mind. They all tried to point out the benefits, but none of that could shake that core fear in her heart. Even Connie’s attempts, after she had some idea of what was happening, couldn’t change her mind.

“But Mother,” she said during one of these arguments, “not only does sword-fighting teach me self-defense skills and therefore decreases the likelihood of me getting injured in an altercation, it also helps increase my chances of getting into top-end colleges! You know how many Asian people learn the violin and play tennis! Doing an unconventional sport will not only keep me physically fit and learn better time-management skills, as well as other important moral values, but will also make me stand out in the field of applicants!”

Connie was right. There were a lot of benefits to this path. If it was any other activity, she would have given in right then.

But it was sword-fighting, and that memory of her daughter riding fearlessly on the back of a lion made her say no.

And when Connie’s protests died down, Priyanka thought that was the end of it. She had agreed to her decision, like a daughter should, and now things could go back to normal. Or, well, as normal as things could be since Connie’s best friend was involved with fighting rock monsters.

The play, though. That changed her mind, in the end. It wasn’t the content—she had heard the tale many times, and while it was an interesting adaption, it wasn’t anything new. It wasn’t even the casting.

No, it was the look in Connie’s eye as she fought off the minion before facing Steven, who was the demon. She was fierce and strong, but there was also true excitement in her movements.

Priyanka frowned. She had never seen her look as happy as she did then. It wasn’t like she hated tennis—Priyanka was a good enough mother that she wouldn’t force her child to do something that she didn’t like—but she never had that fire, that passion for the activity that she had in this one moment.

Connie truly looked happy parrying blows from this minion.

She had to let her take lessons, somehow. It wasn’t right, stopping her daughter from having fun. She couldn’t be that kind of mother. She couldn’t.

Priyanka remembered a time, when she was young, when her mother prevented her from taking soccer lessons. Instead, she was signed up for various Indian classical dances. Priyanka never hated those dance lessons, but sometimes, in her dreams, she wondered how much more enjoyment she would have gotten out of soccer instead.

(There was a reason why _Bend it Like Beckham_ was one of her favorite movies, after all)

And stopping Connie from doing something she loved so she could fit into some ideal of respectability? That wasn’t right. She cared about her daughter, after all, and sometimes it was necessary to turn your back on old ideals in order to do that.


End file.
